Shotgun cartridge wad



May 9, 1933.

FIG. 1.

H. w. BROWNSDON 1,908,314

SHOTGUN CARTRIDGE WAD Filed Dec. '5, 1931 FIGE. F163.

'"Ilm FIG. 7

FIC 9 .DVVENTOR Patented May 9, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT oFnc f HENRY BROWNSDON, MOSELEY, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOB '10 IMPERIAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES LIMITED, A. CORPORATION OF GREAT BRITAIN SHOT G-UN CARTRIDGE Application filed December 5, 1931, Serial No. 579,812, and in. Great Britain December 11, 1980.

The present invention relates to wads as used in shot-gun cartridges between the propellent explosive and the shot.

The desired properties hitherto sought for in wads for shot-gun cartridges are resiliency or elasticity combined with light wei ht, and for this reason wads as genera ly usegconsist largely of materials such as felt or cork.

The object of the present invention is to roduce a wad which will give the desired ballistic results through its form and design rather than from the nature of the material from which the wad is made, althou h this should be capable ofdeformation un er the conditions of use, relatively light in weight, and preferably readily obtainable and chea in price.

Accordmg to the present invention, a wad for shotcartridges consists of a short hollow cy inder made of comparatively ri d and light preferably non-metallic material,

especially paper, cardboard, and the like,-

e. g. pasted paper tube of the kind generally used for making shot-gun cartridge cases. Preferably the edges of the cylinder are crimped or turned inwardly and at right angles to the curved surface, so as to stifien the wad for handling, to permit its bein readily placed within the cartridge case and to provide a good seating for bufi'er dim of cardhoard or other material which are generally placed at the ends of the wad. The inward crimping of the edges of the hollow cylinder also assists in securing symmetrical colla se of the wad when it is used in conjunctlon with a strong over-powder disc and submitted to the pressure exerted by the powder gases on the firing of the cartridge. Such wads may conveniently be cut from a long tube of paper, cardboard or other suitable material and they may be lubricated in any desired manner, either externall only or completely, by immersion in a suita le molten lubr1cant,e. g. paraflin wax. The wads may be made of various sizes and strength as reuired; for wads for 12 bore cartridges I nd that tubes about 0.730" external diameter and rolled from pasted paper about 0.005" thick are suitable. The wad is formed by cutting ofi' a length of the tube and then crimping and turning over the ends so as to form a cylinder with two flat ends, a cylindrical length of l' to being suitable for most cartridges. The wads may be made strong or weak accordin to the number of laps of pasted pa r. use in rolling. When it is desired to o tainan easil collapsible wad a weak tube made from t ree laps of paper may be used in conjunction w1th a strong over-powder card say in thickness. If a stronger tube is used for making the wads then a stronger over-powder card may be necessary to ensure collapse of the wa y The method of manufacture of the improved wads is illustrated in the accompany- 1 ing drawing, in which Figures 1-3 are elevations of the wad at various sta es of the manufacture and Fi res 4-6 are t e correspondmg plan views. igures 1 and 4 illustrate the initial hollow cylui er open at-both ends, Figures 2 and 5 illustrate the cylinder after crimping the edges, and Fi res 3 and 6 illustrate the finished wad in w 'ch the ends have been turned in at ri ht angles, leaving a small central hole. It is not, of course, necessary that the amount of turn over should be so great as is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 7 shows a wad having a tightly fitting internal disc of cardboard or the like, thepurpose of which is described be Figures 8 and 9 are sections of cartrid es containing my improved wad. In these gures, 1 is the cartridge case, 2 the metal base and 3 the percussion ca 4, 5 and 6 respectively are the base wa the powder charge and the shot charge. 7 is the overshot or closing disc. 10 is the driving wad, and 11 the central hole therein formed by turning over the edges. In Figure 8 the powder charge is separated from the driving wad by the usual overpowder disc 9, and the wad in turn is separated from the shot char e by the undershot disc 8. The disc 8 is aIways suificiently strong to prevent shot entering the wad when the cartridge is fired. In Figure 9 the overpowder disc is dispensed with and the wad 10 is only separated from the Eowder gases throug powder a thin pa or membrane 13. The wad is o the type s own in Figure 7 having a. tightly fitting internal disc 12 which is driven to the top of the wad when the car tridge is fired and revents the escape of the hole 11. It will e understood that r the urpose of clarity the clearance between t e wad and the cartridge case 1 has been exaggerated in the drawing, merely for purposes of illustration.

l have found that if the powder gases are given easy entry into the interior of the paper tube wad the collapse of the wad to corrugated form may not take place but that equally good obturation is obtained by the expansion of the paper tube through the internal gas pressure. In this case it is advisable to have a strong tubular'wad and a weak over-powder card and the wad is made with a tightly fitting internal disc of cardboard or the like so as to make quite certain that the wad will be ejected from the gun on firing. Moreover in this case although the over-powder card is of value when used with a lubricated wad, in that it prevents contamination of the powder by the lubricant, it may-be dispensed with alto ether, in which case the powder is prevente from entering the wad through the central aperture by means of a thin paper disc which may be stuck over the base of the wad before the cartridge is assembled. Alternatively, the hole i'n'the base of the wad may be filled with sealing wax orthe like. An over-powder card is thus not essential to the functioning of the wad in the case where collapse of the wad does not take place, but only serves to keep the powder in position.

Inasmuch as paper and the like of itself has not the elastic properties hitherto considered necessary in material for shot-gun cartridge wads, wads made according to my invention are not resilient or elastic as solid wads of felt or cork, but they may be made to collapse under pressure to an annular corrugated form lar er in diameter than the original wad or t ey may be ex anded by internal gas pressure without co apse, thus obtaining the desired efiect of obturation between powder gases and shot.

The properties of wads made according to my invention are thus capable of easy modification and control so as to obtain the most desirable ballistic results from the different propellants.

Although I have referred to the use of one wad only I wish it to be understood that if desired more than one wad may be used, in which case the wads may or may not be separated the one from the other by thin cardboard or other suitable material.

I claim:

1. A wad for use in shot-gun cartridges between the propellant explosive and the shot inoaeu charge, which comprises a hollow cylinder of non-metallic material which is substantially rigid and light in Wei ht, said cylinder having its edges crimpe or turned inwardly.

2. A wad for use in shot-gun cartrid es between the propellent explosive and the s ot charge, which comprises a hollow cylinder of non-metallic material which is substantially rigid and light in weight, said cylinder having its edges crimped or turned inwardly and at right angles to the curved surfaces.

3. The invention of claim 2 in which the hollow cylinder is adapted to collapse under pressure to an annular corrugated form.

4. A wad for use in shot gun cartridges between the propellent explosive and theshot charge, which comprises a hollow cylinder of substantially rigid material in combination with an overpowder disc and an undershot disc, said overpowder disc being sulficiently strong relatlve to thesaid cylinder to enable the cylinder to collapse under the pressure of the powder ases produced upon firing the cartridge, am? said undershot disc being sufficiently strong to prevent entry of isihog into the wad when the cartridge is re a 5. A wad for use in shot gun cartridges between the propellent explosive and the shot charge, which comprises a hollow cylinder of of substantially rigid material in combination with an overpowder disc and an undershot disc, said overpowder disc being sufliciently weak relative to the said c linder to collapse when the cartridge is fire and thus permit the powder gases to enter the interior of the wad, and said undershot disc being sufficiently strong to prevent entry of the shot into the wad when the cartridge is fired.

6. A wad for use in shot gun cartrid es between the propellent explosive and the s ot charge, which comprises a hollow cylinder which is substantially rigid and light in weight, said cylinder being adapted to collapse to an annular corrugated form upon exposure to the pressure of the powder gases when the cartridge is fired.

7. A wad as set forth in claim 6, in which the hollow cylinder is made of cardboard.

8. A wad as set forth in claim 6, in which the hollow cylinder is made of pasted paper tubing of the kind generally used for making shot gun cartridge cases.

9. A wad for use in shot gun cartridges be tween the propellent explosive and the shot charge, which comprises a hollow cylinder which is substantially rigid and light in weight, said cylinder containing an internal disc to ensure the ejection of the wad from the gun when the cartridge is fired.

In testimony whereof I afiix my si nature.

HENRY WINDER BROWNS ON. 

